Conflict Between Parents and Children

¶ … Conflicts Between Parents and Their Children: Amy Tan's "Two Kinds" and Mark Haddon's the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

We have all had our own squabbles with our parents, but in some cases it is a hard fight standing up against an oppressive parental force and establishing yourself as an individual. Yet, this is exactly what Jing-mei Woo and Christopher Boone do. In both Amy Tan's "Two Kinds and Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the growing teenage characters are being smothered by their oppressive single parents. Each one of them is being forced to play a role that is not truly meant for them; however, when each of them make a stand against that oppressive parental force, they are truly allowed to come into their own and establish themselves as an adult.

In Amy Tan's short story, "Two Kinds," the essential conflict is between a daughter and her obsessive mother. Jing-mei Woo is forced by her mother to take piano lessons and to excel at school. Her mother expects her to become a prodigy, the best at everything she puts her hands on. This puts an enormous amount of pressure on the adolescent Jing-mei, who does not want to do half of what her mother makes her do throughout the first half of the story. Her mother wanted her to become the Chinese Shirley Temple, perfect and admirable in every way. This desire for her daughter to fund perfection led Jing-mei's mother to often push her too hard and to seem cold and distant. Still, Jing-mei's mother forces her daughter to push so hard out of good intentions. Her mother immigrated from China and really held on to the idea that there is a better life here in the United States. She just wanted her daughter to excel, and have a better life than she did. However, her way of going about it only distances her and her daughter to the point of no return, where there is an inevitable conflict that eventually sets her daughter free. Jing-mei's mother shows clear disappointment when her daughter is not as perfect as she wants her to be; "And after seeing, once again, my mother's disappointed face, something inside me began to die. I hated the tests, the raised hopes and failed expectations. Before going to bed that night I looked in the mirror above the bathroom sink, and I saw only my face staring back -- and understood that it would always be this ordinary face" (Tan 2). Finally, Jing-mei has too much of her mother's obsessive burdens. She eventually faces her mother and tells her she will no longer play along and keep trying to be something she is not. In this moment of clarity, Jing-mei establishes herself as an adult and as an individual with her own hopes, dreams, and talents. This is a powerful moment, where the reader gets a first hand view of the child evolving into her own right.

Mark Haddon presents a similar parent-child conflict in his work, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Here is a boy, Christopher Boone, who suffers from some sort of either anxiety or learning disorder. It seems to be some form of autism or Asperger's with the intense level of isolation from society and angst Christopher shows throughout the work. Christopher may not know exactly how serious his condition is, but he is always honest with himself. He does not seem to be ashamed of his mental capacities and always wants to strive to make himself better, as in his obsession with "maths" as a way to improve his position in a life he does not like. He knows what he wants and tries hard at achieving it. At one point, Christopher says "I am going to prove that I'm not stupid. Next month I'm going to take my A level in maths and I'm going to get an A grade" (Haddon 55). This quote shows how Christopher was not getting the type of support he needed from his father to have confidence in who he was and what he wanted to do with his life. However, his father Ed doubts his abilities, which essentially increases the tension between them. Ed does not want to accept his son for who he really is, but would rather see Christopher just behave like a submissive minion. Originally, Christopher Boone is thought to be the one who killed Wellington, and so his father orders Boone to stay away from the situation, but Boone refuses. This is just the beginning of a growing conflict between father and son, which later explodes as Christopher discovers the truth about his mother. The constant tension between father and son is obvious, even at this early stage of the novel. The idea here is that the father is constantly trying to force his will upon his son, even though Christopher would be better off acting on his own free will. Ed eventually finds Christopher's book of all his adventures, which drives the two to fight. This conflict is what drives Christopher even further from his father and to uncover the lie about his mother, Judy. By this time, Christopher is done dealing with his father who refuses to really understand and cherish him. So, he runs away to his mothers. This conflict may not be as direct as the one seen in Amy Tran's "Two Kinds," but it still illustrates the idea that in order for a character to grow into his or her own, that individual must stand up to the oppressive parental forces. It is a part of growing up, entering an adulthood where the parents no long decide who the child is or what they will do in life. Essentially, the conflict between the parent and child represents the child entering into their own, becoming an adult in a world where they are more independent and powerful.